Ob La Di, Ob La Da
by watashi wa ichi desu
Summary: Lately it seems that within Danny's daily routine of ghost hunting, avoiding his parents, and struggling through school a million things are going wrong, but in the end of it all life goes on, and maybe things will turn out for the better.


**Title: **Life Goes On

**Author:** Watashi Wa Ichi Desu

**Rating:** K+(PG)

**Summary:** Ever since Danny got his powers his life couldn't exactly be called easy, but he always tried his hardest, and when it came down to it that was all that mattered.

**Disclaimer: **Danny Phantom is owned by Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon.

**Author's Note:** This is my first Danny Phantom fanfiction, so reviews are greatly appreciated.

* * *

"Danny, are you sure you don't want to go to my house?" Sam asked her best friend with an uneasy glance in his direction. "That cut looks pretty bad."

He shook his head. "I can't Sam. Mom and dad are expecting me, and if I cut out again..."

"I get it," she cut him off before he had to finish.

"What are you gonna do though, man?" Tucker asked from Danny's other side. "I mean, your folks aren't the brightest sometimes, but,"

"I know, it looks horrible," Danny moaned. Although his arm had been wrapped with torn section of his shirt it was still leaking out blood mixed with green ectoplasm.

"Jazz will help though," Sam reminded him.

"She _would _help, you mean," he said, "Her study group meets tonight."

Tucker grimaced. "Ouch. You really can't catch a break tonight."

"Thanks Tuck," Danny replied sarcastically, "that's just what I need to hear."

"What if they send you to the hospital?" Tucker continued as if he hadn't heard.

A hand slammed into his mouth. "Stop talking, Tucker," Sam ordered him. He nodded his head, and she dropped her hand from his mouth.

They walked in dreadful silence the rest of the way to Danny's house. By the time they got to the door Danny felt lightheaded from the blood still dripping from his arm. All he wanted was to crash out for the rest of the night.

"It'll be okay, Danny," Sam whispered to him as they bid each other goodbye.

Danny sighed, "Sure it will."

He opened the door as quietly as possible and slipped inside the house. "Danny? Is that you?" his mom's voice came from the kitchen.

"Yeah!" he called back. "Um, I'll be there in a minute."

"Hurry up!" she ordered, "Dinner is ready now!"

Danny took the stairs as fast as possible before locking himself in his room. He systematically stripped the makeshift bandages away from his arm. He was just thankful his parents hadn't been working in the living room when he arrived.

The jagged cut reached from his wrist all the way to his elbow, and it was probably at least half an inch deep into the skin. It seemed that even as his powers progressed, and he got stronger the ghosts got cleverer.

At one time the sight of his own blood would make him sick, but now it was a frighteningly normal sight. He carefully cleaned the cut and wrapped it in a new bandage before picking out a long sleeve shirt from his closet and pulling it on so that it hid his injuries.

When he got back down to the kitchen his mom was rushing around looking for matching silverware, and his father was no where to be seen.

"Where's dad?" he asked as he took a seat at the table.

Maddie turned around in surprise. "Jeeze Danny! I didn't even hear you come in. Your father's in the lab working the new design for the Thermos'."

"Oh," he said, "Can I eat in my room then."

She seemed to deflate before his eyes. "Oh, I suppose," she sighed, "I thought maybe we could sit down together..."

"Thanks mom," he cut her off before grabbing a plate.

"How was school?" she asked him, once again cheerful, as he got his food.

Danny bit his lip and stared down at the lasagna on his plate. "Um, it was, it was fine."

Maddie stared thoughtfully at his back for a minute before adding, "Weren't you wearing a white shirt earlier?"

"Oh!" Danny dropped the fork he was holding. "I had to change. Um, Dash, um, got meat sauce all over it."

There was silence for a few seconds before Danny turned abruptly. "I'm gonna go. I have, um, homework that I need to do. Bye."

"See you later Danny," Maddie said with another sigh and a bittersweet smile. "I love you."

Danny didn't answer as he rushed back up the stairs, but as he sunk onto his bed and stared down at the dinner his mother had cooked he couldn't help but feel guilty.

* * *

Danny dodged blast after blast of ecto-energy as he flew high above the school with Skulker hot on his trail. 

The wind rushed around him, and the screams of the people on the ground were a distant roar in his ears. This wasn't the time for distractions. He had to fight and win these battles to save everyone, including his alter-ego, from the ghosts that haunted Amity Park.

When he was up in the air he wasn't Danny Fenton who was the super dweeb of Casper High. He was the elusive Phantom - anti-hero in the eyes of many, and savior in the eyes of a select few.

After two years the lines that separated the two areas of his life were practically set in stone, but that didn't make the lies, deception, and fighting any easier.

"I shall not be defeated _again_, by you, whelp!" Skulker screamed in frustration as Danny easily looped away from his oncoming attacks and punched him strait in the stomach.

Danny rolled his eyes and reached for the Fenton Thermos he kept strapped across his back. "That's exactly what you said the last fifty times I've kicked your butt."

He popped the cap of the Thermos and Skulker was sucked inside, screaming the entire time. Danny sighed and turned invisible as the cops pulled up on the scene, and began shouting at him to turn himself in.

Even through sixty seven percent of the town now acknowledged his innocence it didn't stop the authorities, or his parents.

Tucker and Sam were waiting for him around the corner where they would be hidden from the public. He changed back to his human form and smiled at them.

"I swear he gets _worse _every time I fight him," he joked.

Tucker laughed. "I know, dude. It took you what? Five minutes."

"Don't get too cocky, Danny," Sam warned him in a voice that was oddly like his sister's. "Remember what happened yesterday?"

Danny winced and rubbed his arm. The cut had already scabbed over due to his ghost powers, but it still hurt, and he wasn't about to forget it that soon.

"I know," he sighed, "I'm just glad my mom didn't notice anything."

"Really," Tucker said, "Can you image what would happen? I mean, the thing with Freakshow, but the under the circumstances..."

"You always know just what to say, don't you, Tuck?" Danny said, shoving him on the shoulder.

"Hey! Watch it," Tucker jumped away from Danny's hand. "It's not like you don't wonder the same thing."

"Yeah," he agreed sarcastically, "I just don't particularly like being reminded of it."

They were silence for a few minutes before Danny sighed again and ran his fingers through his hair. "I know they would accept me..."

"Don't worry about it, Danny," Sam said, placing a hand on Danny's uninjured arm. "They haven't found out yet, and it has been two years."

"I hate lying to them," he muttered.

Tucker rolled his eyes. "We all lie to our parents, dude. If not this it would just be something else."

"Right," Danny said though his tone remained unconvinced.

"When did this conversation become so depressing?" Sam asked, "That's suppose to be my job."

Tucker grinned. "And you do it so well, too."

Danny couldn't help but laugh when Sam wacked the side of Tucker's head, causing him to cry out in pain.

"What is this?" he exclaimed, "Abuse Tucker Day?"

"Every day is Abuse Tucker Day!" Sam and Danny replied as one.

Tucker scowled at them. "Oh, get a room."

"Oi!" they yelled in protest, and Tucker took off running down the street.

"See you Monday!" he yelled back as he ran.

Danny turned to Sam hopefully, and asked, "So, um, what are you planning this weekend?"

"My parents are headed up to New York for a weekend getaway so it'll just be me and Grandma," she sighed in frustration, "They're looking at schools, you know."

"What?" Danny's eyes widened in alarm.

Sam stared down at her boots, and when she finally answered her voice was laced with anger, "They think I need an attitude adjustment, and well, moving to the city seems like a good idea to them."

"You can't!" Danny didn't want to think of what would happen if Sam moved away. She was one of only three people close to him who knew his secret, and she was his best friend.

Sam looked up at him, "Of course I can't!"

"They're so stupid!" she suddenly screamed, "They don't understand me at all! All they can think of is their own stupid way of living, and they can't _ever _admit that they might even be the tiniest bit wrong!"

She took off down the street, and Danny had to jog lightly to keep up with her.

"I'm sorry, Sam," he apologized.

She looked over to him and glared. "There's nothing you can do."

"God, Sam, I didn't even _know _about it until today, and I'm your best friend," Danny said, "I should pay more attention to you, and Tuck."

"You were busy," she shrugged, "I understand."

"That's no excuse," Danny protested, "You have to hear me going on and on about how my parents _might _not understand me if they ever figured out what I'm doing. Your parents can't even bother to see how wonderful you are," he blushed, "I have no right to talk."

"You, you think I'm wonderful?" Sam asked, blushing as deeply as he was.

Danny licked his lips nervously. "Well duh, you've put up with me and Tuck since preschool, right? And, well, you do all this stuff for me, and you don't even get mad when I'm not doing anything in return."

"You save the entire town on a daily basis," Sam told him, "That isn't 'nothing'."

"It isn't the same, and you know it," he said.

Sam shook her head and touched his shoulder. "It doesn't _matter _if it's the same. You're doing great things Danny, and that's all I care about."

"Thanks Sam," he said, though his mouth was oddly dry, "Hey, do you mind if I stay over at your place tonight?"

"Tell your parents you're at Tucks?" she asked with a grin.

He smiled back, "Of course."

"And tell Tuck nothing at all?"

"Well duh."

* * *

"Danny! Danny, it's time to get up for school!" Jazz pounded on the door a few more times for good measure. 

Danny shot up in bed as though he had been electrocuted and glared at the door. "I hate you, Jazz! Go away!"

"I love you too, little brother!"

He glared at the door some more before rolling out of bed and beginning to get ready for school.

Th night before he had been patrolling the town until the early hours of the morning, and when he looked in the mirror he saw that it definitely showed.

There were dark circles under his eyes, and his shoulders were slumped with exhaustion. "Oh, I'm sure they won't notice a thing," he said to himself sarcastically,

He tugged on his jeans and his standard white and red shirt. The wound on his arm had healed over already, and now it looked as if nothing had been there at all. One of the actual perks of being half dead.

"Danny? Are you ready?" Jazz called to him.

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah! Lay off, already!"

"Do you want a ride?" Jazz asked in a hopeful voice.

"No!" he yelled back. He didn't want to listen to Jazz ask him if was alright the entire time.

"Alright, mom and dad are in the lab so you're clear. See you after school!" she called one last time before he heard her retreat down the stairs.

Danny stared at his reflection again before muttered, "Doubtful."

He was hardly ever at home anymore, but it wasn't like he could do anything about it except try harder.

The house was silent as he walked downstairs and into the living. Every once and a while he could hear his parents yelling followed by short explosions. He grinned.

"I'm leaving!" he yelled before stepping out the door.

He met Sam and Tucker at the corner of the block. Sam was scowling heavily, and Tucker seemed to be inching away from her.

"Your parents back?" he asked her as they began to walk.

"Yes," she growled.

He nodded and decided that speaking further would be a bad idea.

They walked the rest of the way to school where he split away from Tucker and Sam who had math while he had English.

"Now class," Mr. Lancer said as the bell rang and the talking and laughter died around the room, "as you _should _know this semester's creative writing assignment will be due in two weeks. The subject you were asked to write about is 'life' and you will be graded on your interpretation of the assignment as well as your writing..."

Danny tuned him out as he began to remember the assignment with a cringe. He was barely keeping up a C- in this class already, and he hadn't even started the essay that they had been given a month and a half ago.

"The rest of the class period will be a free time to work on your essay. There shall be no talking!" Lancer ended and the class went up in a flurry of rustling papers and hushed whispers.

Danny pulled out a notebook and flipped to a blank page. What was he going to write about? What did he know about _life_?

His blue eyes scanned the room. Students were laughing and talking once again, despite Lancer's orders, and the teacher himself was scowling around at all of them from behind his desk.

Danny continued to study the middle-aged teacher. He had more experience with Lancer than a lot of the students, and he knew just how much he wanted them all to succeed and go on to do great things.

He paused. Great things? Wasn't that what Sam had been talking about on Friday?

Automatically, he searched out Valerie. She was sitting in the first row next to the window with her head bent over her desk. She was scribbling furiously onto her notebook, and her entire stance screamed panic.

Him and Valerie were in the same position. They both went out and tried to save the town, because they were the only ones that had the experience, the nerve, and the sheer will to.

Suddenly Danny leaned back in his seat and stared down at the paper in front of him.

He bit his lip and began to write.

* * *

"Danny!" Sam screamed. 

His body slammed into the ground with enough force to kill a normal human. He choked as the air rushed from his lungs, but that didn't hinder him since as a ghost he didn't need to breathe.

He struggled to his feet and began gathering his energy into ecto-blasts.

Spectra's cruel laugh met his ears. "You think you can beat me with those puny things?"

The confidence began to leak from his body, and it took a massive effort to remain in control.

He smirked, "They worked well enough last time! Or have you forgot your experience as the evil snot monster of doom?"

"Shut up! You wretched freak!" she rushed at him as her emotions exploded in a fit of rage.

"Give it up, Spectra!" he yelled, "You didn't win last, or the time before that, and you certainly won't win now."

"No!" she cried desperately, "I will win! You - you,"

"What is it? Cat got your tongue?" Danny asked, "Come on, this is just pathetic. Now you can't even insult me properly? I'm hurt."

"Stop it! Stop it! SHUT UP!"

"I've already got rid of your sidekick. So I guess that means that it's your turn," he was interrupted by a voice from the ground.

"Danny!" Sam yelled, "Thermos!"

She chucked it to him, and soon he had activated it and sucked Spectra inside its depths.

He staggered down to the ground and felt the change back to human being forced over him. "Danny?" Sam called him.

"Danny, are you alright?"

His eyes slipped shut. "Tir'd," he mumbled before passing out cold.

* * *

"Alright," Lancer called, "Today I will be collecting everyone's essays. Remember that this counts for a great portion of your grade for the semester, and those that fail to turn it in may be faced with repeating the course next year." 

His gaze lingered on Danny who was barely able to keep his eyes open.

Lancer told Mikey to collect the essays and Danny handed his own over silently. He had finished most of it in a hurry the night before and he was sure he had failed.

The thought was a depressing one. Even after two years of ghost hunted Danny hadn't had to repeat any of his classes. He always managed to pull through at the last minute.

* * *

"Hi Danny, how was school?" his mom asked as he walked into the kitchen after a long day of school and ghost fighting. 

Danny swallowed, "Um, it was fine."

"Did you do anything interesting?" she asked with a pleasant smile.

The mask of her hazmat suit was pulled back and her hair was a bit flyaway. There were papers and little gadgets spread out on the table in front of her.

"No," he said. He couldn't very well say that he had fought off three ghosts and probably failing English.

His mom sighed again, and he felt a twinge of guilt.

"Well, alright," she said, "I guess I'll see you for dinner."

He winced. "Actually, I'm really tired..."

"Go to sleep then," she scowled down at her work for a second before continuing to write.

Danny felt his heart drop in his chest. "Right, um, bye then."

She didn't answer, and Danny retreated from the kitchen feeling even worse than when he entered.

* * *

Danny gazed out the window a week later. Lancer was talking about Shakespeare or something, and he was trying desperately not to fall asleep _again _and land himself in detention. 

He was beginning to stress again. His parents seemed to be getting more suspicious of him by the day, and Sam was being unusually quiet about her own home life which wasn't a good indication of her remaining in Amity Park, and then there were his failing classes, and the daily ghost attacks.

It seemed like everything was slipping again, and he couldn't do anything but hope things would work out.

"Mr. Fenton!" Lancer snapped.

Danny cleared his throat and tried to remember what Lancer was asking him. "Um, yes?"

"As I suspected. I will see you after class today, Mr. Fenton." With that Lancer walked back to the front of the room and continued his lecture.

"Yes, sir," he muttered under his breath and stared down at his desk.

The rest of class passed with a growing sense of dread in Danny's stomach. He didn't want Mr. Lancer to give him detention. If he did Danny would end up bailing out because of ghosts, and then his parents would be called, and god knows what would happen then.

"Mr. Fenton," Lancer began as soon as the other students had cleared out. "Your continued lack of interest in this class is beginning to become a problem."

"I'm sorry, really," he began, "It's just that I,"

"I have told you before that I don't need your excuses," he cut him off, "I need results."

"But Mr. Lancer," he began again in a more hysterical tone.

"Try harder, Danny, or I will be forced to fail you," he snapped.

Danny swallowed and nodded. "Mr. Lancer, um, when will we be getting back our creative writing essays?"

"You will get them back as soon as I'm finished grading them," Lancer continued when Danny opened his mouth, "Not until the second semester starts."

"Oh," Danny sighed.

Lancer glanced at the clock, "Your next class is about to start."

"Right Mr. Lancer," Danny slipped his backpack over his shoulder and began to move towards the door.

Lancer smiled slightly. "And Danny?" he turned back "Remember, life _does _go on, even if it does seem particularly hard right now."

"Yeah," Danny said, "_that _I know."

* * *

My assignment was to write about what life is, but everyone knows what life is, because life is relative. I doubt I will ever change anyone's mind on the subject of life, so why try?

In the end all it comes down to is taking everything that happens to you, and trying your best to make sure the good outweighs the bad.

So instead of taking about my views on life I want to talk about the people that matter most of me. These are the people that made my life what it is today. These are my friends, my teachers, my enemies, and my parents, and I'm sure you'll agree they are much better than any essay.

Danny stared down at the paper in his hands where a large A+ was scrawled in blue ink.

* * *

He was practically skipping when he got home that afternoon. "I'm home!" he called as he pushed the door open.

"That you, Danny?" his mom shouted from the lab.

"Yeah, it's me," he took the stairs down to the basement two at a time and jumped that last three.

His dad looked up from where he was bent over a silver and green _something _that Danny reminded himself to avoid in the future. "What's gotten into you, son?"

"Yes Danny, that's dangerous!" his mom agreed.

Danny merely grinned and held up his creative writing assignment.

"I aced Lancer's assignment!" he shouted happily.

His mom stood up and plucked the paper from his hand. She read over it with wide eyes. "Danny, this is wonderful!"

She passed the paper over to Jack who grinned and clapped Danny on the back.

"Good job, son, I always knew you had the Fenton smarts," he said proudly.

"This is great Danny. I'm so proud of you," his mother hugged him, and Danny let himself be enveloped by his mother's warm arms. It had been a long time since he had felt this happy.

Maybe, just maybe, things were looking up.


End file.
